


Courage Comes in Different Forms

by marvelfoodlover



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Tony Stark, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Natasha Needs a Hug, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha faces her fears, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, i am bit drunk so i am not even sure whats happening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 00:26:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7486077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelfoodlover/pseuds/marvelfoodlover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Captain America Civil War. </p><p>Her team was divided and all she thinks she can do is hide. Until Tony Stark comes and demons are being resurrected. </p><p>To Tony, Natasha Romanov is many things. But she is not a coward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Courage Comes in Different Forms

It took Natasha about half an hour for her to get the necessities she needed for now. It took another 15 minutes to get to her shitty apartment in Ohio. She paused for a millisecond when she opened the door and causally walked into the living room and threw the knife she always had at the intruder. 

 

Tony had to step out of the way before his head was sliced through by the knife. 

 

"Stark?" Natasha couldn't hide her surprise. 

 

"I was expecting you to be in Asia right now, not in America," Tony starts ignoring the shocked look on the woman's face. 

 

“How did you find me?” And wasn’t Natasha mad that someone could actually find her. 

 

“I am a genius hon,” Tony expasertaly tells her. “And no, nobody knows that I am here with you. Although Rhodey would actually kill me if he knew.”

 

Natasha inwardly flinched a bit, but maintained a stoic appearance. “Are you going to take me in?” She asks instead of asking about Rhodey. 

 

“No,” he answers after a moment. “I have to deal with Ross and the mess you all left behind. The UN is leaning more towards Ross because of recent events so its not safe you.”

 

Natasha nodded and sat down in the battered sofa, pointing Tony to the chair. He understood and sat down, facing her. 

 

“What happened after I left?” 

 

Tony looked at her, contemplating if he should tell her the truth but he decided to fuck that. 

 

He wasn’t ashamed of it.

 

“I went to the Raft because thats where Ross had put everyone expected Rogers and Barnes. In the Raft Wilson tells me about this guy Zemo who was going to activate other Winter Soldiers in Siberia, and I obviously went after I looked all the facts up.”

 

“I could have brought Ross down because the Accords called for fair trial, but Rogers always has to make it hard for me," Tony finished with a mirthless smile. 

 

Natasha kept quiet, knowing how difficult things will be for the Accords. “Should I come back?” She asks, knowing that UN knew about her little act of letting go Steve and Barnes because of T’Challa. “Please don’t,” Tony replies back instantly. “I can’t take care of you and bring down Ross. I am too old to do this,” Tony tiredly finished. Natasha looks down, can’t bear to look at the black eye or bruises covering his face, or how exhausted Tony looked. He didn’t bother wearing sunglasses, so Natasha could see the hurt and weariness in his brown eyes. 

 

(She didn’t know what to do.)

 

“What happened in Siberia? With Zemo?” Natasha asks, the calm look contrasting against the turmoil in her mind. Tony looked at her stoic but she could see that he was contemplating about something. 

 

“Zemo killed the other Winter Soldiers and showed us a video,” Tony said, which shocked Natasha. it didn’t make sense. Why would he kill those soldiers if he was HYDRA?

 

“Zemo wanted to tear the Avengers apart,” He said and got up. He looked away and took a shaky breath, and his brown eyes were filled with anger when he turn towards her. 

 

“How long did you know that Barnes killed my parents?”

 

Whatever Natasha was expecting, it clearly wasn’t this. Tony could clearly see the shock but pressed on. “Rogers knew, so you must have known,” his voice filled with vile. Natasha looked away, guilt engulfing her. 

 

“The video was-“

 

“I saw Barnes killing my parents. My mother,” Tony’s voice broke, forcing Natasha to see the man in so much pain. 

 

“I thought Steve told you,” she said softly.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked, accusation in his voice. 

 

“We knew since Washington. Who would you have preferred to hear it from? Me or Steve?”

 

And he understood. Tony knew that even though he would want both of them to tell him, he would have preferred that Steve had told him. Because he had trusted that bastard, and Natasha knew that Tony didn’t trust her fully. 

 

Hell, they only started to trust each other after Ultron when Bruce left. They only started to bond because of Bruce, since Tony missed his friend and Natasha missed someone close to her. 

 

Tony and Natasha understood each other. They knew to see the world for what it is. They knew that the world wasn’t just white and black, and that there was always going to be grey areas. Grey areas that they understood and lived by to survive. 

 

He took a deep breath and calmed himself because he understood her actions. Doesn’t mean that he isn’t angry with her. 

 

“You saw the video and lost control,” Natasha said, knowing Tony well enough to know what he did. And understanding why he did that. 

 

“And Rogers when I attacked Barnes. Shouldn’t have done that-“

 

“You had seen your parents die Tony.”

 

“Still. At the end Rogers shut down my suit after I blew off Barnes’s arm.” The same arm that killed his mother, he left unsaid. 

 

Her brows furrowed as she thought how could Steve bring down Tony’s suit and-

 

The arc reactor. The shield. 

 

“Did he-“

 

“Yes.” Tony knew what she was asking. There was only one explanation to that. Natasha was smart enough to understand when Tony unconsciously brought his hand to his chest, where his arc reactor was placed inside his body. He froze a bit when he realized what he was doing and brought down his hand as naturally as possible, though Natasha wasn’t stupid. 

 

She stood up and walked towards him. Tony tensed up when Natasha put her arms around, bringing him closer to her, and let his body relax. He needed this, just for minute, to be frail and weak and Natasha was giving him that chance. They let go of each other, both awkward because they never were good at expressing themselves without their masks. 

 

“I can’t wire you any money because everyone is up in my ass so I bought some cash in the bag,” Tony pointed to bag in the kitchen. “There is a file in it that I want you look over.”

 

“What is it about?” Natasha said, grateful for some focus. 

 

Tony hesitated for a moment but decided to tell her anywhere. “FRIDAY lets me know about any pseudo organizations that are against the Avengers. Usually there aren’t much a threat and I leave that to the CIA and FBI because they are all technically a terrorist group. But this time its different.”

 

He takes out his phone and pulls out an hologram, and Natasha flickers through the information.

 

Dread starts to fill her. 

 

"They are recreating the Red Room," Natasha whispers, horrified. 

 

"Yes," Tony replied. "To take down any enhanced individuals." 

 

He puts his phone back in his pocket and looks at how pale Natasha is. She tries to put on a brave appearance, but he knows that she is terrified. He knows how difficult it is to face your own demons, and he feels guilty to push Natasha onto this but he has no choice. 

 

“I would have done it, but I have too much right now. SI is taking hits because of this ‘Civil War’ and I need to bring it back up to have some kind of power to amend the Accords. And Rhodey..” He pauses for a bit. "I would have asked Vision but he is compromised and I don’t want attention on this. You know more about this than anyone else,” Tony said to her, his brown eyes showing a bit of fear. “We can’t let people have ideas Nat, because right now we can’t afford it.”

 

And Natasha could see it. Public opinion of the superheroes has drastically changed since the Accords because Steve’s and others’ actions. People can go to extreme lengths because of fear, and while this organization might not be much of a threat right now, if people knew about it, things could go from bad to worse. Innocent people can be hurt. People who don’t know anything can be hurt because of their powers. 

 

“I know,” Natasha tells him. “I’ll deal with it.”

 

“Don’t cause too much damage. I just need the intel about the organization,” Tony tells her. “You have to be discreet.”

 

“Okay,” Natasha said, trying to get hold on her fear. Tony hugs her, brushing his lips against her red hair, hoping to comfort her. He steps back and places a flip phone on her hand. “If you are in trouble this has mine and Rogers’ number,” he tells her.

 

“How do you have his number?”

 

“He sent it to me with a letter, saying that I can call him if I needed help,” Tony said, looking away for a moment. He looks back at her, his eyes softening just a bit. “You might need it more than me.”

 

“Please,” she said with a corner of her mouth turning up. The teasing moment ended and Tony just nodded and was about to leave. 

 

“Tony?” He looks back at her from the door. Her face, for the first time in a while, is open, and he can see the guilt, regrets and worry clearly. “I am sorry,” she said, knowing that he understood what she was trying to say. Sorry that things turned this way. Sorry about Rhodey. Sorry about his parents. Sorry about everything. Sorry that he won’t be trusting her again. 

 

He looks at her with a sigh. He gets it. Her actions. He understood her actions. And she understood his. “Me too,” He simply said and get out of the apartment. 

 

…

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so there might have been grammar mistakes but I am a bit drunk right now and this just came to me and I needed to write it.


End file.
